An absorber, which contains an absorbable material and a water-absorbing resin and is formed into sheet-like, for example, is used for sanitary articles required for water absorbing property such as sheet, auxiliary bedding sheet, auxiliary nursing-care mat, sheet for animals (sheet for pets), disposable diaper, disposable diaper for animals, sanitary napkin, sanitary napkin for animals, breast pad, sweat pad, and urine pad, for example. The absorber is used for an absorbing portion of disposable diaper, breast pad, sweat pad, incontinence pad, sheet, auxiliary nursing-care mat or sheet for pets, auxiliary bedding sheet, or sanitary napkin, for example. Among these, disposable diapers and incontinence pads are used as excrement treating materials for humans, in particular for child-care, advancing age, or ailing persons, and are desired for excellent antibacterial action to inhibit proliferation of bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Legionella pneumophila, and Streptococcus in addition to excellent water-absorbing action and odor-eliminating action. Furthermore, sheets for pets are used as excrement treating materials for animals and are desired for water-absorbing action, odor-eliminating action, and antibacterial action. Auxiliary nursing-care mats are intended to absorb or treat excretory substances leaked from disposable diapers or incontinence pads, are desired for function to maintain proper sanitary conditions of beds, bedclothes, etc. and to prevent their blots, and are desired for water-absorbing action, odor-eliminating action, and antibacterial action. Bedding aid mats are used for mild bed-bound ailing persons, for example, and are desired for odor-eliminating action to body odor and antibacterial action.
Furthermore, moisture other than sweat is continuously evacuating out of human skin even while asleep, the moisture is absorbed by bedclothes or night clothes, therefore, heat-retaining property and moderate hygroscopic property and water-absorbing property are required, and even as for sanitary articles, heat-retaining property and hygroscopic property, in particular good skin feeling are required since being usually worn on bodies.
As described above, sanitary articles have various functions desired differently depending on applications; auxiliary nursing-care mats, diapers, bedclothes, and incontinence pads have been formed from fibers having high hygroscopic property and water-absorbing property, thus are likely to be contaminated by depositing horny layers dropped from skin surface and cornified, scurf due to skin sebum or sweat with dusts on skin, etc., pathogenic bacteria tend to proliferate, which is a problem particularly in a case of decubitus ulcer, etc.
Consequently, the auxiliary nursing-care mats, diapers, bedclothes, and incontinence pads use cotton, etc. with washing resistance as a raw material so that cleanliness is always maintained in order to always maintain purity and they can be used repeatedly while frequently exchanging them.
The auxiliary nursing-care mats and diapers made of cotton, etc. are washed at each exchange; however, it is necessary to select insufficiently clean sheets and wash again them in order to make all sheets clean in a desirable level since they are relatively bulky, the sheets have respectively different contamination levels, and cleanable levels by washing are different due to mechanical washing by laundry machines, which is troublesome since much labor hours are necessary. Accordingly, the present inventors have proposed a disposal absorber and a sanitary article using the absorber, wherein a dry material of leach liquor of tea dregs of green tea, oolong tea, and red tea and tea dregs are included into water-absorbing paper or nonwoven fabric to inhibit the proliferation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Legionella pneumophila, and Streptococcus for 24 hours, thereby the cleanliness of the sanitary article can be maintained for a long period from in use (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Hei No. 11-1896).
In addition, absorbers have conventionally been noticed with respect to water-absorbing property and the performance has been focused on water-absorbing property during a shorter period, thus absorbers are produced to have a large water-absorbing velocity. When tea dregs are mixed in order to give an odor-eliminating property, however, there arises a problem to decrease the water-absorbing velocity.